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911 GT1 Strassenversion for sale: Not the last road-going GT1 constructed. Not 1 of 20. Still rad.

July 31, 2012

What's more special than a homologation special? Photo by DuPont Registry

The 1980s might not have a been a golden age of motoring, but they certainly were a paragon of joy for those of us who revel in the glory of the homologation special. The Ferrari 288 GTO. The Ford RS200. The Opel Manta 400. The Audi Sport Quattro. The Porsche 959. The E30 BMW M3. Competition-bred street cars built for one purpose—so that their manufacturers could go racing.

Much of the loopiness was centered around Group B rules; indeed, the Ferrari was built for the stillborn Group B sports-car series. The concept car that preceded the 959 was actually called the “Grüppe B.” Save for the Group A Touring-inspired M3, the rest of the aforementioned terrors rose out of Group B's hairy-as-Sasquatch-on-Propecia rallies.

As much as we might glorify the '80s, the 1990s had their shining standouts in the homologation realm as well, generally centered on the wanton enduro-ing at the Circuit de la Sarthe and the FIA GT championship. Mercedes-Benz built the CLK GTR, the Le Mans iteration of which was famous for its fanciful and frightening flights, while Porsche fielded the 911 GT1.

Both cars required 25-vehicle production runs, and if you didn't make the waiting list for the 918 Spyder, you might be interested to know that the last 911 GT1 Straßenversion (or Strassenversion, if you're not fluent in the ways of the ess-tset), is up for sale.

The 911 name really is a bit of a misnomer, as the car's more 962 than 993, but what it lacks in rear-engineness, it makes up for in exclusivity and sheer chutzpah.

The seller claims that the car is the last of the 20 cars built and has recently been looked over and tended to by the factory. We called Porsche to see whether it could shed any light on the thin information provided in the listing and found out that, while the car could well have been built in 1998, it's to 1997 specification. What's more, there weren't only 20 examples of the Straßenversion constructed. The educated-guess number we got from Porsche's Dave Engelman was 27 cars, but he could only say with certainty that there were more than 25 cars built, but fewer than 30. The truth, apparently, lies somewhere in the bowels of Weissach. Weissach likes its secrets.

Note, however, that the last Straßenversion built—a 1998-spec car—resides in the Porsche Museum. This, then, is not that.

Up for enjoying a life of sneering at pedestrian 918 and Carrera GT owners? Pony up $2,325,000, and it's yours. But the smart, moneyed individual would do a bit more sniffing around before plunking down the satchel of doubloons. A satchel of doubloons sounds good right now. Perhaps with an equally sized satchel full of doughnut holes. You know, to eat in our new Porsche.